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Library 

OF  THE 

University  of  NortH  Carolina 

This  book  was  presented  by 

J  X3Vcr»e.  rpird'irvcg  Co. 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


Linville  Gorge 


A  STATE  PARK  FOR 
NORTH  CAROLINA 


By  W.  W.  Ashe 


Reprinted  from  PARKS  &  RECREA  1  ION 
for  January -February,  1923 


-OJL 

(pf  if 

r*  4A — 

w. 

■ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


■ 


https://archive.org/details/linvillegorgesta03ashe 


- — Photograph  bv  Frank  Bicknell 

HAWKSBILL  OMINOUS  —  A  TURQUOISE  HAZE  HANGS  ABOVE 

LINVILLE  GORGE 

Proposed  As  State  Park 
For  North  Carolina 

By  W.  W.  Ashe 


Far  below  a  slender  thread  of  sparkling, 
roaring  water,  walled  in  by  lofty  sandstone 
cliffs  which  rise  from  sloping  bouldered 
bases,  dotted  with  mountain  pine  with  nod¬ 
ding  tips;  deep  somber  hollows,  shady  with 
hemlock;  high  above,  sentinel-like,  towers 
Table  Rock,  cleft  in  twain  in  some  titanic 
swell,  and  Hawksbill  ominous;  a  turquoise 
haze  hangs  above;  now  and  then  is  heard 
the  shrill  cry  of  a  raven.  This  is  Linville 
Gorge. 

Here  is  a  natural  park  with  every  ele¬ 
ment  of  romantic  charm:  Ruggedness, 
crag,  cliff,  canyon,  scar;  the  allurement  of 
half  naked  rocks  part  clothed  in  verdure; 
a  foothold  here  and  there  for  a  group  of 
stunted  wind-torn  trees;  a  ledge  on  a  dizzy 
escarpment  from  which  droops  laurel,  in 
June  crimson  and  purple;  a  fissure  claimed 
by  a  clump  of  mountain  azalea  flaunting  a 


flaming  banner  in  earliest  spring  under 
which  the  snowbird  makes  its  nest;  crevices 
from  which  the  service  grows  matching  in 
the  whiteness  of  its  vernal  blooms  the 
patches  of  snow  which  still  linger  huddled 
in  the  hollows  from  the  sun.  Linville 
Gorge  is  grand,  virile,  stern,  with  threaten¬ 
ing  precipice  and  beetling  cliff,  a  rock  en¬ 
compassed  glen  with  lofty  barriers. 

A  water-worn  slit  twenty  miles  long  and 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  deep  through  a  massive 
block  of  white  flint-like  sandstone.  Linville 
River  through  past  aeons  has  carved  this 
narrow  channel  for  itself.  A  temperamen¬ 
tal  little  river,  placid  in  its  transit  through 
the  broad  quiet  valley  within  which  lies  its 
upper  course;  but  once  below  the  falls 
which  mark  its  descent  to  the  gorge  becom¬ 
ing  tempestuous  and  partaking  of  the  wild 
nature  of  the  gorge  itself,  fall  being  fol- 


* 

cT 


2'Aij 


PARKS  &  RECREATION 


— Photograph  by  Frank  Bicknell 

RUGGEDNESS,  CRAG,  CLIFF,  CANYON,  SCAR;  THE  ALLUREMENT  OF 
HALF  NAKED  ROCKS  PART  CLOTHED  IN  VERDURE 


lowed  by  cascade  and  rapid  until  when  it 
emerges  from  the  gorge  and  enters  the 
broad  plain  below  Shortoff  Mountain  the 
total  descent  has  been  a  thousand  feet.  The 
eastern  wall  of  the  gorge  is  Shortoff, 
Hawksbill,  Table  Rock,  and  Gingercake 
Mountains;  the  western  is  the  long  Linville 


Mountain  ending  in  Dodson  Mountain  at  its 
southern  end. 

A  park  should  withdraw  from  use  the 
least  possible  amount  of  wealth  producing 
area.  It  should  embrace  the  largest  amount 
of  recreational  opportunity.  The  basic  ele¬ 
ment  should  be  esthetic:  It  may  be  the 


NATIONAL,  STATE  AND  PROVINCIAL  PARKS 


— Photograph  by  Frank  Bicknell 

AN  ESCARPMENT  FROM  WHICH  DROOPS  LAUREL,  IN  JUNE 

CRIMSON  AND  PURPLE 


quiet  monotones  of  woodland  drives;  in 
Linville  Gorge  it  is  the  grandeur  of  Nature. 
There  are  in  the  entire  Appalachians  two 
other  regions  which  rival  it:  Grandfather 
Mountain,  its  rock-capped  summit  encircled 
with  forests  of  spruce  and  balsam;  and  a 
rugged  but  limited  area  around  Highlands, 
North  Carolina.  Most  of  the  mountains  in 


the  southeastern  States  are  merely  hills — 
amplified,  picturesque  and  charming  drowsy 
vistas — forest-clad,  from  vale  to  summit, 
with  here  and  there  a  mountain  farm, 
mountains  which  are  capable  of  producing 
timber  and  contributing  to  the  general 
weal  of  a  section  which  needs  to  develop  all 
its  resources.  '  In  a  natural  or  wild  park 


238 


PARKS  &  RECREATION 


— Photograph  by  Frank  Bicknell 

A  ROCK-ENCOMPASSED  GLEN  WITH  LOFTY  BARRIERS 


there  should  be  an  extensive  area;  the  pos¬ 
sibility  of  roads  and  trails;  rare  scenery; 
opportunity  for  varied  diversion;  accessi¬ 
bility.  There  should  alike  be  facilities  for 
the  camper,  for  the  casual  tourist  and  the 
motorist.  Linville  Gorge  and  the  flanking* 
mountains  combine  all  these  elements  of  at¬ 
tractiveness.  They  offer  to  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  one  of  the  few  opportunities 
to  acquire  a  reasonably  large  area  with 
many  advantages,  and  accessible  to  the 
family  of  moderate  means  that  desires  to 
spend  a  week  on  a  camping  trip.  North 
Carolina  with  its  slender  urban  population 
heretofore  has  not  felt  the  need  of  preserv¬ 
ing  for  its  people  opportunity  for  outdoor 


life.  The  urban  population  is  rapidly  in¬ 
creasing.  These  people,  largely  men  of 
small  means,  must  be  given  opportunity  for 
outdoor  life — a  week  or  ten  days  spent  on  a 
camping  trip.  This  is  a  phase  of  life  which 
is  not  yet  developed  in  the  Southeast  as  it 
is  already  in  some  other  sections.* 

Linville  Gorge  is  a  fragment  from  the 
Grand  Canyon,  but  with  cliffs  verdant  with 
foliage  in  place  of  gaudy  with  many-colored 
rocks.  Looking  westward  from  the  Lin¬ 
ville  Mountain  there  is  a  vista  across  the 
broad  North  Catawaba  Valley  with  the 

*In  Texas  two  years  ago,  the  writer  saw 
hundreds  of  parties  camped  along  Guada- 
loupe  River,  in  the  plateau  of  central  Texas. 


NATIONAL,  STATE  AND  PROVINCIAL  PARKS 


239 


distant  Black  Mountain  range  for  a  sky 
line;  on  the  other  side  is  a  yawning  chasm. 
From  the  ridge  to  the  east  of  the  gorge  the 
outlook  on  one  side  embraces  the  low  moun¬ 
tains  which  merge  into  the  rolling  hills  of 
the  Piedmont;  on  the  other  is  the  depth  of 
the  gorge,  from  which  at  times  emerges  the 
faint  roar  of  the  river. 

This  region  is  the  most  accessible  out- 
lyer  of  the  higher  Appalachian  mountains. 
An  excellent  road  passes  almost  at  the  foot 
of  Dodson  Mountain.  Up  this  mountain 
there  is  a  fair  road,  and  an  auto  can  easily 
travel  the  crest  of  the  Linville  Mountain 
for  its  entire  length  of  twenty  miles.  By 
circling  the  bases  of  Table  Rock  and 
Hawksbill  an  excellent  and  highly  scenic 
road  can  cheaply  be  constructed  along  the 
prevailingly  flattened  crest  of  the  eastern 
wall,  and  by  crossing  just  above  the  falls 
such  a  road  would  pass  entirely  around  the 
gorge. 

For  the  purposes  of  recreation  there  are 
ideal  camping  sites  along  the  crests  of  the 
flat-topped  mountains  which  flank  the  gorge 
on  either  side,  while  there  are  many  springs 
short  distances  below  the  summits.  The 
sandy  soils  never  become  muddy;  there  are 
no  mosquitoes,  no  gnats,  no  black  flies. 

Only  a  few  steep  and  slender  paths  de¬ 
scend  into  the  deep  bottom  of  the  gorge. 
With  more  and  better  trails,  offering  freer 
access  to  the  river  the  fishing  would  be  un¬ 
surpassed.  There  still  lurk  a  few  bears; 
an  occasional  pheasant  drums  near  the 
berry  thicket;  the  turkey  still  haunts  the 
chestnut  feeding  ground.  With  a  little  pro¬ 
tection  they  would  wonderfully  increase. 
Deer,  and  perhaps  elk,  otter  and  beaver 
might  be  introduced.  Bald  eagles  have  been 


killed  here,  and  the  wide-winged  osprey 
often  soars  above.  The  deeper  hollows  pro¬ 
tected  from  hunting  furnish  unrivalled 
breeding  places  for  game,  the  overflow  of 
which  would  in  part  replenish  outside  areas 
where  it  could  be  hunted  lawfully.**  Some 
of  these  most  inaccessible  hollows  could  be 
set  aside  where  timid  game  might  find 
refuge  and  breed  undisturbed  by  fires,  dogs, 
or  by  its  most  dangerous  foes,  men. 

The  State  of  New  York  has  purchased 
and  set  aside  for  the  use  of  the  people  more 
than  two  million  acres  in  the  Adirondack 
and  Catskill  reserves  and  in  the  Allegheny 
State  Park.  It  is  due  to  the  workers  in  the 
rapidly  growing  towns  of  North  Carolina 
that  a  beginning  be  made  in  this  respect. 

The  ownership  by  the  State  of  North 
Carolina  of  this  land  of  almost  negligible 
value  for  the  production  of  timber  *** 
should  be  urged  by  those  who  wish  to  see  a 
State  own  some  of  its  choicest  bits  of 
natural  scenery;  by  those  interested  in  the 
public  ownership  of  a  tract  with  unsur¬ 
passed  recreational  advantages;  by  sports¬ 
men  desirous  of  the  establishment  of  breed¬ 
ing  places  for  the  almost  vanished  game; 
by  those  who  cater  to  the  tourist  since  ii 
rendered  approachable  there  will  be  added 
another  attraction  to  the  “land  of  the  sky”. 


**The  State  of  Pennsylvania  has  28  game 
refuges,  with  an  aggregate  area  of  some 
30,000  acres  within  which  the  killing  of 
game  is  prohibited.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
the  writer  that  as  a  result  of  this  game  is 
more  abundant,  at  least  in  northwestern 
Pennsylvania  than  it  is  at  the  present  time 
in  any  portion  of  western  North  Carolina. 

***The  enormously  valuable  water  power 
rights  have  already  been  alienated  from 
the  fee. 


r 


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